


Rea

by mrheadhopper



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 02:33:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13754418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrheadhopper/pseuds/mrheadhopper
Summary: A young Breton flees to a foreign land to try and escape her guilty conscience.





	Rea

Introduction

No one had invited me to their room before, making the climb up the stairs leading to it all the more exciting. Her room was housed in a tower at the far end of the University's borders, the one Ernest told me was reserved for the most esteemed of guests. "I don't know why they bother with these arrangements. I tell them time and time again that I don't need them, but they insist." I nodded, unsure of what the 'arrangements' were. At her door stood two high elven guards clad in brilliant golden armor with a winged motif, the both of them standing to attention when we emerged from the staircase. Aydel waved her hand, and they relaxed, undoing the cross they formed with their halberds before the tall gate to her room. I had figured she was important, but I had no idea it was enough to warrant a personal guard at her chambers. The way they stared at me was tinged with disdain, nothing like the way her green eyes almost glowed when she smiled at me. Once inside, she showed me around, the whole thing almost three times bigger than the little room my mentor had picked out for me. I stepped onto tile floors so thoroughly polished they reflected us. Midday light entered from the two tall arched windows on either side of the room, draped over with seethrough black and gold curtains flowing softly along with the breeze. Her bed was fit for a queen, encroached with four golden pillars with meticulously carved designs of elves and hawks. "Wait!"

"Before we do anything, take your boots off. I don't want to give the maids any trouble. If these floors aren't clean enough to eat off of, then..." She trailed off, pointing back to the door. "You mean those guards out there? Are they bothering you?" She shook her head, pulling her boots off and watching as I slipped out of my shoes. "They wouldn't dare. But they're looking for any excuse to treat the University's servants like dirt. I'm pretty sure they hate humans." Guiding me along a little tour of her chambers, she finished it by showing me a 'little collection of books' contained in a towering bookshelf. Pulling one book from the shelf, she opened it to reveal imposing walls of finely scribed text, detailing the intricacies of... how to make yourself look pretty. Snapping it shut, she pulled another one with an embroidered leather cover, a face bare of any other decoration save for two humanoid figures holding hands. "And this is...?" She winked and handed it to me, turning towards a massive dresser on the other side of her room.

I opened it to a random page, exposing myself to pictures of naked elves atop smaller human figures in a myriad of vulgar poses. Their actions seemed crude and forceful, reminding me of the time I accidentally walked in on my mother with one of her customers. I had watched from a crack in the doorway, the both of them too busy with eachother to ever notice me there. It was violent, filthy. I knew no other way to describe it, and I... I ripped myself from the memory, slamming the book shut and shoving it back into its place at the shelf. The wave of disgust washing over me wore off somewhat when I heard Aydel humming to herself, flinging finery over her shoulder towards the bed behind her. Looking at all of these radiant dresses and robes, I wondered why she only wore simple tunics and trousers, both wrapped tightly around her lithe form. It seemed wasteful. "What are you doing?" She smiled and slammed the dresser's doors shut, holding out a beautiful white-gold gown with delicately woven frills and avian patterns threaded into the lace. I looked at it, and then the pile of equally fancy clothes atop the bed. "You're gonna try these on, Rea." Her grin was almost contagious, but I held mine back, the thing she'd just handed me looking to be too much for me. "What do you mean? This doesn't really fit me. And it's not because I'm shorter than you."

"You're joking. Rea, these were practically made for you. Come here." She led me infront of one of the various mirrors placed almost haphazardly in her room, this one tall enough to loom over the both of us. We stared at our reflections for a moment, her head resting atop mine, her hands lazily wrapped around my waist. "Look at the contours of your face." I looked. I didn't see much. She traced her fingers over my cheekbones, my chin, the softest touch grazing over the outline of my lips. "A human with features like these?" Aydel smiled, gently pulling my hair back. The tip of my ears had a subtle tip to them, not so slight as to be unnoticeable. "You're the cutest Breton I've seen." She gripped my hips suddenly enough to startle me and I looked at my bewildered expression on the mirror, an uncomfortable heat creeping up my back. "Wha..." I sighed the word out, betraying how much I enjoyed her touch. "You've definitely got the face for finery. Why then do you hide your stunning body under these bulky robes?" Her hands moved up my waist, clearly not appreciating how much it bothered me. Why wasn't I stopping her? "The difference here, between your waist and your hips, is very important. If they saw a woman like you at Alinor..." She sighed wistfully, moving even higher until she was just barely touching my breasts. "You can actually see yours, even under such baggy clothing. I'm like a boy compared to you. So..." She spoke huskily, staring directly into my eyes in the mirror as I breathed in shallow little bursts. I finally willed myself to move, pulling myself from her soft grasp and facing the ground to try and conceal the blush rapidly spreading across my face. What was this? "So you're gonna try these on! You'll look beautiful, I'm sure of it." The tone of her voice suddenly regained its melody, confusing me even further.

She turned towards the door, locking it, the click of the mechanism sounding very final after all of that. "You'll have to undress, of course. Wouldn't make much sense if you didn't." I had managed to calm down somewhat, but hearing that from her only set me off again. "I-infront of you? But I.." Why was I stuttering? "It's no big deal. We're just trying on some clothes." There was that damned low tone again. The way she stared me down made me feel even smaller, like I was prey being sized up. Every step she took towards me was as exciting as it was threatening, and I couldn't understand why. "I can help you undress, if you'd like." I blinked at her, then quickly shook my head. "I-I'm fine. Do you want me to try this one on first?" I spoke quickly and she nodded, turning towards a corner of the room that seemed like a small kitchen, lined with cupboards and other things I couldn't make sense of with how tense I felt. I turned towards the mirror. I looked like I'd been running, with my shallow breathing and reddened face. I tugged on the cloak draped across my shoulders uneasily, unsure of whether I should really do this or not. My mind was working frantically to understand what had just happened, and why I hadn't even tried to stop her. Had it just not meant anything to her? Was I the strange one?

She popped up behind me in the mirror, setting down a tray atop a little table beside her bed. There were little cookies and what looked like tea in simple white cups neatly arranged ontop of it. "So? What are you waiting for?" I swallowed hard, but it didn't do anything for the lump in my throat. I started with the cloak, and as soon as I pulled it loose she was there to grab it for me, giving me the same smile as always. "Only one more hour before the lessons start over again. What's that old man going to make you do this time?" I raked my mind for what Ernest had actually told me we were going to do today, intrusive thoughts of Aydel and I constantly interrupting the process. "Uhh... He said we were going to try a concentrated fireball that could pierce through shields and armor. I can't make any sense of the tome he gave me for it." She stared at me as I pulled the robe off, leaving me only with the thin white undershirt I wore underneath. "Take that off too." I turned towards her, clutching the robe to my chest. "I-isn't that too much? The dress should fit on fine..." She shook her head, pulling the dress up and pointing towards its chest region, which was very... revealing, the neckline precariously low cut. "It's meant to accentuate your breasts. A shirt would just ruin the effect. And what's wrong with the tome?" I was having a hard time keeping up with her, how she spoke so casually about this, dancing between the two subjects like it was nothing. I stood there for a moment, then slowly pulled the shirt off. If it didn't matter to her, it didn't matter to me. "It's not the tome. I'm just not good with precision or the more controlled projectiles." She sat up somewhat, staring at my linen-bound chest rather obviously. "You wrap them?" I nodded, watching her rise off the bed and walk up towards me.

"I-I don't know. They just felt awkward in the robes, so I started doing this, and..." She clapped her hands together before I could embarrass myself any further, grabbing my discarded shirt and robes, skipping over to the bed to lazily lay on top of it. "This is going to look amazing on you." She stretched out on the bed, and the way it puffed up her little chest, her long legs stretching out over... I needed to stop looking at her like that. I paused, taking a moment to realize I was supposed to be undressing. One thing was taking my shirt off, but now the only thing standing between me and that gown was my pants. Why did it matter so much to me? It made me so very uncomfortable, like a knot tightening in my gut, but it felt so exciting. Something welled up within me with every step I took towards the dress. Not just because it looked pretty, but because of her. Why her? I undid the string fastening my trousers to my hips, leaning in to pull them off of me, and kicking them off afterwards. I stood before the mirror in nothing but my underwear. Aydel stood up, her eyes scanning up and down my body. "You know, you could be a model for these." Her compliments and the way she voiced them only served to deepen how sheepish and bothered I felt. She stood behind me for a moment, her gaze still fixed on my body, then she hastily picked up the dress and hurried to my side. "You're gonna need help with this, for sure." I nodded. "It's gonna be a bit troublesome to dress you in all of this with that wrap on, though."

Aydel didn't say it, but the way she trailed off told me exactly what she wanted. Or what I thought she wanted. She'd never been like this before. I looked at her through the mirror, then finally nodded. I hooked a finger around the wrap, bracing my chest with my other arm, still unwilling to truly expose myself to her. I expected her to be watching me, but she was busy unfolding the dress, revealing a flowing skirt, and the petticoat that I'd be wearing underneath it.  
With the linen unfurled, I waited as she slipped the corset on over my body, tying the strings together at its back once I fit into it. It pressed on me uncomfortably, and I noticed just how 'accentuated' my chest was. She nodded, then helped me fit into the petticoat, then the skirt, and the two shoulder-length puffy sleeves that completed the dress, draping a thin see-through veil over my chest once she was done, much alike a little cloak. I'd spent an inordinate amount of time reading texts that described and pictured these gowns, but it only dawned on me now that I was wearing one. "You're beautiful, Rea." I am. I really am.

Aydel gently moved the side of my face, turning me towards her so she could view my profile in the reflection. "If we had some earrings, a necklace maybe..." We were facing eachother now, our noses nearly touching. I leaned in and I kissed her, reaching up and running my fingers through her short blonde locks. Aydel's eyes flew open, but she didn't pull back, instead just looking at me, her green eyes rapidly blinking as I pressed my lips to hers. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to feel, but the tingling radiating from my chest and breaking out over me was very welcome, only serving to push me further onto her. Her hand dropped from my face, instead resting on my chest and I leaned into her touch... then she pushed me away. I staggered back, nearly tripping on the hanging fabric of the dress. She pressed her sleeve to her mouth as I looked at her, horrified of what I'd just done. Aydel's face was a mixture of confusion and disgust. It was crushing to see her like that, a feeling like hot needles piercing into my back as I stood there dumbfounded. Her mouth opened as if to say something. "I'm sorry! I don't know what I... I thought that you... I'm so sorry." I interrupted her, my voice cracking as I spoke. She turned away from me and towards one of the windows, leaning over it. I tried to stammer out some other excuse, clutching on tightly to the hem of the dress as I blinked away tears, but nothing came. "Go, Rea. I need some time alone." Her tone was unusually harsh, a stark contrast to her usual songlike lilt. I shakily pulled the gown off, trying against my trembling hands to not mess it up in the process. She didn't even glance at me, focusing on whatever was out the window. I'd barely even managed to pull my clothes on before I rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

What did I do? Why did I do it? Was I this desperate for something I didn't even understand in the first place? I flew down the stairs, stopping only at the landing to catch my breath. I slammed my fist into a nearby wall, flame welling up in my hand as it travelled and bursting out when it struck the aged stone, leaving a scorch mark on it. I couldn't control my damned magic, and I couldn't control myself. The kids in Wayrest, the students here, and now her... I realized they scorned me for a reason after all.


End file.
